Riding to college on their arms

Elite summer, fall leagues, as well as player showcases, get young pitchers noticed

By JAMES ALLEN Staff writer

Updated
7:02 am EDT, Sunday, May 1, 2011

Jeff Hoffman looked to the backstop. He saw scouts, recruiters and coaches with radar guns scrambling to get the best view.

His heart raced. He was in a place called Baseball Heaven -- a four-field baseball complex on Long Island where high school players come to get noticed -- playing against a team he couldn't name with teammates he knew nothing about.

The result of the game didn't matter, but what he did with his next few pitches would.

Hoffman wanted a chance at a top-notch Division I college, but his efforts to get noticed had fallen flat.

The lanky 6-foot-4 right-handed senior at Shaker High went 7-0 as a junior for the Blue Bison.

Nothing.

Hoffman also went 4-2 with a 0.82 earned run average during the summer pitching for the East Greenbush Devilcats' Connie Mack team for players ages 18 and under.

Still nothing.

The only college interest Hoffman had generated came from The College of Saint Rose, a small Division II school. It was a good option, but Hoffman wanted more.

The opportunity was standing behind the backstop.

"You see all those scouts and coaches there," Hoffman said. "I had to take a deep breath. I knew this was my chance to prove what I could do."

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More Information

More Capital Region pitchers are headed to Division I schools than there were 15 years ago -- at least 11 so far for the 2012 season. That's about 5 percent of the senior pitchers in Section II. Fifteen years ago, one or two pitchers would reach college sports' highest level.

What's changed? The Capital Region has always had talent and high schools have done a good job developing players. Since 2001, New York has had the fifth most major league draft picks.

But getting noticed by colleges wasn't easy for area ballplayers hoping to land a scholarship. Kids used to send homemade video of themselves pitching to college scouts or hope that a recruiter might show up at their high school game. Players also would attend college team camps. Those avenues always were a long shot.

But now, the emergence of elite summer and fall leagues and player showcases have allowed hopeful Capital Region pitchers a chance to be seen by mobs of radar-gun-wielding scouts. Where one pro scout or college coach might have attended a high school or summer baseball game 15 years ago, up to 150 college and pro scouts attend the most prestigious summer and fall amateur baseball events.

"You attend some of these events and there are college recruiters and scouts everywhere," said Jim Howard, who played at Siena and in the minor leagues and has been a scout for the Baltimore Orioles since 1986. "It is all about opportunities. Having the talent is great, and it is needed to get noticed, but it is the exposure these kids weren't getting previously that is the biggest change."

***

Hoffman's adrenaline pumped.

During his junior season, his fastball averaged 82 to 83 miles per hour. He'd added a few mph during the summer months working with a pitching coach, and decided to join a successful downstate Connie Mack team for their fall campaign.

To catch the scouts' attention at Baseball Heaven, Hoffman knew he needed to throw harder than he'd ever thrown before. Those scouts weren't there to see him, but he had their eyes. If he had a good day, his parents wouldn't have to worry about taking out those student loans to cover college tuition.

"You look up and you see shirts that say Vanderbilt and Virginia," Hoffman said. "I realized what was at stake. I knew I had to be strong mentally and block out the importance of what I was doing."

Hoffman thought he mixed his pitches well, but he doubted he threw harder than normal, even as he struck out five and allowed only one hit.

After three innings, he walked off the mound and over to his coach.

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Getting a Division I scholarship covers your bills and might just point you toward the pros.

When it comes to money, players can get full or partial scholarships to some of the most respected schools on the East Coast. Instead of schools giving all their scholarship money to revenue-generating sports like football and basketball, the NCAA has required schools to bolster programs like baseball. That means more baseball scholarships for Division I schools to dole out.

Scholarship money ranges from $15,000 to more than $100,000, said George Rogers, who is about to embark on his 40th year of running the South Troy Dodgers' Connie Mack amateur baseball program. For a better chance at a scholarship, players join teams such as the Dodgers -- the program fields teams ages 13 to 18 -- which costs between $650 to $1,250 per season. Families usually will spend a few thousand dollars on baseball per year, Rogers said.

When it comes to baseball, players who head to Division I schools get better facilities, better coaching and higher-level competition. And a greater chance of being seen by pro scouts.

Spa Catholic's Tim Stauffer, who was the opening day starter for the San Diego Padres this season, played for South Troy in 2000, helping him secure a full ride to Division I Richmond.

"Over the last 10 to 15 years, there are a number of kids that come to these large showcase events," said Billy Blitzer, a scout for 36 years who works for the Chicago Cubs. "They would have been kids that would have stayed in the Northeast, and now they are going to places like Vanderbilt, schools in the (Atlantic Coast Conference) or Florida. Before, those same kids were going to St. John's and Seton Hall."

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Hoffman knew he pitched well, but was it good enough?

"As I walked off the mound, my coach asked me how hard I thought I threw. I said, '85 (miles per hour),'" Hoffman said. "He said, 'You topped out at 92.' I couldn't believe it."

As he gathered his gear, Hoffman glanced at his cellphone.

"I saw eight area codes I didn't recognize. I knew right then I had done something pretty special," Hoffman said. "I had set my future."

Those calls were from coaches at Elon, East Carolina, Boston College, St. John's, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Villanova and Notre Dame.

Hoffman signed his National Letter of Intent to pitch in 2012 for East Carolina, a Conference USA member with 18 players drafted over the last five years.

Three well-pitched innings helped a pitcher with no scholarship offers secure more than half the $120,000 in out-of-state tuition costs at East Carolina, and Hoffman's parents won't have to take out student loans to cover the balance.

"It was mind-blowing at first," Hoffman said. "I went from being an upstate New York pitcher hoping to maybe go Division II, to throwing well, reaching the low 90s in one game, and suddenly getting to decide if I want to pitch Division I baseball by the beach."